ESU professor: Taking care of buildings — every day

Across from the Strawberry Fields strip mall in East Stroudsburg is a decrepit building displaying a weary flagstone fašade above large dingy sheets of plywood covered by unevenly-faded gray paint. Matted pieces of paper litter the parking lot.

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Posted Oct. 24, 2011 at 12:01 AM

Posted Oct. 24, 2011 at 12:01 AM

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Across from the Strawberry Fields strip mall in East Stroudsburg is a decrepit building displaying a weary flagstone fašade above large dingy sheets of plywood covered by unevenly-faded gray paint. Matted pieces of paper litter the parking lot.

Around the corner languishes the once-mighty Blockbuster, formerly the bustling scene of movie enthusiasts. Now this empty edifice showcases a duct-taped drop box, windows streaked by dirty water and purposeless cables dangling from darkened rectangles where bright blue signs used to hang.

The American dream is a boundless entrepreneurial spirit that invites anyone to strike it rich if their business takes off due to products that meet consumer demands. This spirit inspires Americans to innovate and seek wealth. But along with that high-stakes gamble lurks an alternate likelihood: The business might crap out.

According to the Commerce Department, over 50 percent of new businesses fail within two years. And that's just new businesses. Even established local and national businesses like Weis Markets or Circuit City can lose when the economy falters, leaving behind their dilapidated structures.

Such blights on our visual sensibilities deserve some sympathy because ongoing business success is really tough. But the typical eyesores that result from bankrupt business properties also cry out for another way of thinking — that business landlords should deal responsibly with their vacated properties for the good of the community.

If society encourages entrepreneurs to incubate businesses so that owners and investors can accrue great personal wealth, then government regulation should prevent derelict owners from failing to care for business properties that are soiling our surroundings.

Every owner of a business property should be required by law to set up an escrow account to keep the property looking presentable if the business unfortunately flops.

The escrow should pay for the property's maintenance in all its facets — including respectable signage that invites occupancy by a new business. Having to pay into an escrow would also motivate the owner to get a new business into the building as soon as possible.

Entrepreneurs will probably reject this idea as unrealistic and burdensome, especially for small business owners struggling early on to cover their expenses.

We have laws that require homeowners to keep up their properties, and escrow funds for mortgage payments and taxes months in advance. Why not require the same responsibilities of businesses?

Let's plan for prosperity by requiring business owners to take care of their properties even if things don't go as planned.

Rob McKenzie is a professor of communication at East Stroudsburg University.